Georg August von Griesinger

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Georg August Griesinger (born January 8, 1769 in Stuttgart , † April 9, 1845 in Vienna ) was a German diplomat and writer . He exercised the function of a secret legation councilor at the royal Saxon legation at the Imperial and Royal Austrian court in Vienna. He gained fame through his friendship with the composers Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven . He also wrote Haydn's first biography.

Life

Georg August von Griesinger was a son of the Württemberg civil servant and lawyer Georg Christoph Griesinger (1734 / 35–1782), whom he lost at the age of 13. His mother Louise Dorothea, b. Bag von Leonberg gave him an excellent education, so that he developed an amiable character. He had an older brother, the later lawyer and politician Ludwig Friedrich Griesinger (1767-1845). First he attended the seminar in Maulbronn for his early training and from 1786 he devoted himself to studying theology in Tübingen . After completing his studies there, he took up the profession of educator. He went to French-speaking Switzerland in September 1791 and stayed there as an educator in the house of Seigneur de Montrichy-Lully in Morges on Lake Geneva until the spring of 1797, when he led his students for further training at the University of Leipzig .

In 1799 Griesinger was entrusted with the education of his son by Count Johann Hilmar Adolph von Schönfeld , who was then extraordinary envoy and authorized minister at the imperial court in Vienna . He quickly gained the Count's trust and from then on remained closely associated with him. After the then legation secretary passed away, the count introduced him to the diplomatic career. In the following years, Griesinger proved himself as a conscientious Saxon diplomat.

First Griesinger was Legation Secretary of the Electoral Saxon Legation in Vienna in 1804 and Legation Councilor in 1808. In the late phase of the Napoleonic Wars , he was able to publicly demonstrate his loyalty to Saxony and its royal family when it was a matter of defending King Friedrich August I and protecting the rights of the country. After the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig (October 1813) he followed his king to Berlin , where he was held prisoner. With his apology de Frédéric Auguste, Roi de Saxe (Nuremberg 1814) he emphasized his pro-Saxon sentiments. When he was reassigned to the embassy in Vienna in autumn 1814, his advocacy of Saxony during the Congress of Vienna was not heard by the powers present there.

Griesinger undertook a long journey in 1827 with his wife, the Viennese singer Maria von Lagusius, who was married to him in 1823, through Northern Italy, Tyrol , France , Belgium , the Rhineland and most of Germany . In 1828 he was appointed secret legation councilor. Several times he also held the position of royal Saxon chargé d'affaires at the imperial court in Vienna and at the end of 1831 he was appointed Saxon-Weimar chargé d'affaires at the Viennese court.

Griesinger received many honors. At the foundation of the Royal Saxon Order of Civil Merit in 1815 he was awarded the Knight's Cross, in 1819 he was raised to the nobility, in 1835 knight of the Weimar House Order of the White Falcon and in 1839 Commander of both the Royal Saxon Order of Merit and the Weimar House Order. The fact that he remained in an unchanged position with every change of government speaks for the satisfaction of the princes with his solid achievements. He also kept grateful memories from his Saxon relatives in Austria and from many of his acquaintances and professional contacts through friendly advice and effective help.

Griesinger found motivation for writing primarily in earlier years. In addition to scientific and political essays scattered in public papers, he wrote a correction of the doubts of Councilor Hannemann against the treatise of Hofrat von Sonnenfels on the majority of votes in criminal judgments (Vienna 1802). His memorabilia from the history of the Austrian monarchy, collected on every day of the year (Vienna 1804), are also valued . He was on friendly terms and correspondence with Joseph Haydn and later with Ludwig van Beethoven , as evidenced by the biographical notes on Joseph Haydn (Leipzig 1810). Through this writing he became Haydn's first biographer. Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart set the text written by Griesinger to music for a cantata . Griesinger was also a correspondent for the Allgemeine musical newspaper . He had extensive correspondence with the music publisher Gottfried Christoph Härtel . His interesting information about his meetings with letters containing Haydn to the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel is an important source for research.

After two days of malaise, Griesinger, who had not had any children from his wife, died on April 9, 1845 at the age of 76 in Vienna.

Works and letters

  • Memories from the history of the Austrian monarchy. Collected for every day of the year , Vienna: Degen 1804 ( digitized )
  • Biographical notes on Joseph Haydn , Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel 1810 ( digitized version )
  • “I have just come from Haydn…”. Georg August Griesinger's correspondence with Joseph Haydn's publisher Breitkopf & Härtel 1799–1819 , ed. by Otto Biba , Zurich: Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag 1987, ISBN 3-254-00130-3
  • Ludwig van Beethoven, correspondence. Complete edition , ed. von Sieghard Brandenburg , Volume 1, Munich: Henle 1996, pp. 138f., 141-143, 230-232
  • Beethoven from the point of view of his contemporaries , ed. by Klaus Martin Kopitz and Rainer Cadenbach , Munich: Henle 2009, Volume 1, pp. 376–388

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c Griesinger, Georg August von , in: Carl-Maria-von-Weber-Gesamtausgabe, digital edition .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g F. Th. Richter: Griesinger (Andreas von) . In: Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste , 1st section, Vol. 91 (1871), p. 41 f.
  3. ↑ Griesinger, Georg August , on MGG online.
  4. ↑ Editions of the works of Joseph Haydn , in: Reinmar Emans, Ulrich Krämer (Ed.): Music editions in the course of history , Walter de Gruyter, 2015, p. 316.
personal data
SURNAME Griesinger, Georg August von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Griesinger, Georg August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German diplomat and writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1769
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH April 9, 1845
Place of death Vienna